Journal of Black Innovation Guest Editor Donald M. Temple, Esq., an international civil rights attorney, discusses the social implications of technology in the August issue and in a TEDx speech at Howard University Sept. 14. The issue also features the 18th annual 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology.

For 39 years, Temple has run the Charles Hamilton Houston Pre-Law School Institute, helping more than 500 students learn the ropes of legal studies.

African Union Ambassador talks healthcare and entrepreneurship in LA

Her Excellency Arikana Chihomburi Quao, M.D., FAAFP, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States of America and Richard Patterson, CEO of Trion Supercars, builder of the 2,000 HP Nemesis, first black automaker in a century. See her remarks in the next Journal of Black Innovation.

The Ambassador turned this former slave plantation into Africa House outside of Nashville, TN where she operates four medical clinics.

Do not miss the excitement Jan. 15. Subscribe today for Innovation&Equity18 at the site of the first black bank in history on a street named for an African-American millionaire pioneers. The site is the Merchants Exchange Club, 1 Leidesdorff Str. at 4 p.m. on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The new Chief Information Officer of the United States Army gets his third star at Ft. McNair Aug. 17. Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford, a native of Columbia, S.C., took command Aug. 1. He is among the 18th annual 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology announced in the National Black Business Month issue of the Journal of Black Innovation. Terence Murchison, CIO of Columbia, and JBE Inc. CEO Jerry Ellison are other South Carolinians on the list. Twenty percent of military technologists are African-American.

MODERATOR CARRA WALLACE, FORMER CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER FOR THE New York CITY COMPTROLLER, RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS DURING MONEY ON THE TABLE PANEL WITH SUPERVISOR MALIA COHEN, PRESIDENT OF THE San Francisco RETIREMENT SYSTEM, AND CALIFORNIA STATE TREASURER JOHN CHIANG DURING INNOVATION&EQUITY17: 50 MOST IMPORTANT AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN TECHNOLOGY AT THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART AND CULTURE COMPLEX ON JAN. 15, 2017. DURING THE PANEL--MONEY ON THE TABLE--COHEN AND CHIANG CONCLUDED THAT PENSION FUNDS COULD BRING MORE LEVERAGE THROUGH CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TO ACHIEVE ECONOMIC FAIRNESS.

DURING THE RELOADING BLACK San Francisco SESSION, JUNE RILEY, CEO OF THE VC TASKFORCE; CHARLENE CHILDERS-COLEMAN, CEO OF SENSORY ACUMEN; DEREK LAWSON, Vice President OF CORRNERSTONE CONCILIUM AND JEFFREY DEVINE, MANAGING PARTNER OF THE DEVINCE CONSULTING GROUP ILLUSTRATED THE CAPABILITIES OF LOCAL TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURS. THE RELOADING BLACK San Francisco PLAN INCLUDES GROWING OR STARTING 200 MORE AFRICAN-AMERICAN INNOVATION LED COMPANIES IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS TO ATTRACT 10,000 MORE AFRICAN-AMERICAN TECHNOLOGISTS TO THE AREA.

ENGINEER FREDERICK E. JORDAN SR. RECEIVES SPECIAL RECOGNITION FROM REP. BARBARA LEE FOR HIS ENGINEERING FEATS ON THOUSANDS OF HIGH PROFILE PROJECTS AS FRANCEE COVINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE San Francisco FIRE COMMISSOIN LOOKS ON.

SUPEERVISOR MALIA COHEN, WHO REPRESENTS DISTRICT 10 IN San Francisco, GREW UP IN THAT DISTRICT . COHEN AND CHIANG, WHO GREW UP IN SOUTHSIDE CHICAGO, SAID THOSE EARLY EXPERIENCES SHAPE THIER DECISIONMAKING ON INVESTMENT POLI

AAACC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MOHAMMED SORIANO-BILAL INTRODUCES MODERATOR CARRA WALLACE, RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING NEW YORK STATE THE FRIENDLIEST STATE FOR BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES.

WALLACE DESCRIBES HOW New York CITY INCREASED ITS UTILIZATION OF EMERGING MANAGERS FOR ITS PENSION FUNDS AND STEPS TO INCREASSE PROCUREMENT FROM MINORITY BUSINESSES IN HER ROLE AS CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER FOR THE NYC COMPTROLLER

SUPERVISOR COHEN DESCRIBES HER ROLE AS PRESIDENT OF TH San Francisco RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR THE MONEY ON THE TABLE PANEL. TWENTY PERCENT OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES NATIONALLY ARE AFRICAN-AMERICAN, MAKING THE UTILIZATION OF THEIR PENSION FUNDS A MAJOR ECONOMIC PRIORITY.

LAWSON DESCRIBES HOW CORNERSTONE CONCILIUM TACKLES PROJECTS SUCH AS AIRPORT INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND PUBLIC TRANSIT SCHEDULES AS AN IT CONTRACTOR,

WASHINGTON--The Honorable Denise Turner Roth, Administrator of the General Services Administration, is encouraging small businesses to compete for an additional $19 billion in cybersecurity spending, using easier tools to seek contracts with the federal government, in a cover article for the National Black Business Month special edition of the Journal of African-American Innovation."... GSA is working to expand the pool of qualified, capable vendors - particularly small businesses - that are critical to providing the expertise, skills, and manpower needed to implement critical cyber solutions. Through our “Making It Easier to Work With Government” initiative, we seek to ensure that all enterprises offering relevant cyber-security-related products and services to the federal government have access to and understand how to navigate GSA’s schedules," said the Administrator.Roth also appears in a video on the daily newspaper blackmoney.com, explaining the "Making It Easier to Work With Government" initiative, and a GSA series for new government contractors is posted at blackbusinessmonth.com

"In light of this becoming this reality in which we live, President Obama made an explicit commitment to the American people that improving federal cybersecurity, and rebuilding the trust citizens have in our ability to protect and store their data, would be a primary focus of this Administration," adds Turner Roth. "GSA plays a central role in this mission by working closely with our federal customers and private sector partners to better understand lessons learned during these incidents, help develop best practices to mitigate potential breaches, and to develop new acquisition and technology solutions to help our agency partners leverage new, proven products and services that will improve our ability to secure our IT systems."

The subscription to the Journal includes access to all three issues in the inaugural volume, including a directory of African-American venture capitalists and the Harriett Tubman 2.0 article by initial guest editor Nichol Bradford in the first issue and the forecast of the virtual reality industry by video pioneer Mary Spio in the second issue. The subscription also includes a ticket to the Innovation & Equity Symposium and scientific proceedings on Jan. 15, 2016 and allows participation in the Soul of Technology Innovation Competition to be announced in October. Among the other contributors is cybersecurity vendor Col. Boykin Jordan, USAF (Ret.), a Citadel alumnus who notes the value that African-American veterans with military information technology experience bring for government acquisition offices. The Journal was founded in January to mark the centennial of the first African-American scholarly journal, the Journal of Negro Historyby Carter G. Woodson. It is distributed to a community of policy makers, innovators, researchers and educators developed through the 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology since 1998. The third quarterly issue is guest edited by Darrell G. Mottley, shareholder of Banner Witcoff in Washington, D.C., past president of the Washington, D.C. Bar and editor in chief of Landslide, the American Bar Association's intellectual property journal.

​Darrell Mottley to guest edit third edition of Journal of AA Innovation

The American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL) has named Darrell G. Mottley editor-in-chief of its Landslide magazine. He ​previously served as deputy editor-in-chief and moved into his new role at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, July 30-Aug. 4, 2015. He will serve a two-year term.​​ ​​A shareholder at Banner &Witcoff, Mottley was the first intellectual property lawyer to be elected president of the Washington, D.C. Bar. Among the writers will be Col. Boykin Jordan, (ret.) USAF, with an analysis of the booming field of cybersecurity.

Deadline for submissions is July 15. Editing the first two editions of the Journal were Nichol Bradford, CEO of Willow Group Inc. and Mary Spio, CEO of Ceek VR. Following their great launch, the publishing schedule has been expanded to four times yearly to meet the demand for scientific proceedings by African-American innovators. Authors in the August edition will present at the Innovation&Equity 17 on Jan. 15 in San Francisco.

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He started as a part-time custodian

Henry Jones begins his third term as the retiree representative on the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees Retirement System by receiving an investment advocate Roy L. Clay Sr. Technology Pinnacle Award during Innovation&Equity16 in San Francisco from blackmoney.com editor John William Templeton. Jones told the audience that CalPERS places $4.5 billion with minority and women owned firms to invest, more than any other capital source in the world.

Jones is vice president of the Board, chair of the investment committee that sets policy for around $300 billion and chair of the global governance subcommittee.

As a part-time school custodian, he became active in gaining health benefits for part-time workers as a member of SEIU and eventually became the chief financial officer of Los Angeles Unified School District before retiring in 1998.

More than 500,000 retirees elected him without opposition for the third time in 2015 for a four-year term that began Jan. 16.

Sixteen-year-old Jaden Conwright brings a smile to one of the most powerful names in public finance, Henry Jones, vice president of the CalPERS Board of Administration. Conwright just signed a contract to race Formula 4 cars in Italy (above) Richard Patterson, CEO of Trion Supercars, also offers Conwright an opportunity to test drive the 2,000 HP Trion Nemesis RR which goes from zero to 60 in two seconds with a top speed of 270 with the approval of his parents, Craig and Kimberly Conwright (below) Photos by Derek Toliver.

Sensory Acumen

Michael Coleman, Chief Creative Officer, and Charlene Childers-Coleman, CEO, of Sensory Acumen receive their Roy L. Clay Sr. Technology Pinnacle Award after making two presentations during the scientific proceedings of Innovation&Equity16 along with Carl Childers and Dr. Ralph Peterson.

Arthur Bart-Williams, CEO of Canogle, receives his Roy l. Clay Technology Pinnacle Award after making a presentation during the scientific proceedings of Innovation & Equity 16.

Cornerstone Concilium

With $300 million in technology contracts with the City of San Francisco including the flight information system at SFO and the NextBus for MUNI riders, Derek Lawson, vice president of technology for Cornerstone Concilium, receives the Roy L. Clay Sr. Technology Pinnacle Award on behalf of founder and Chairman Wayne H. Perry.

SiliconCeiling15: Equal Opportunity in High Technology reports it was ten times easier for an African-American technologist to be hired in Los Angeles than San Francisco or Santa Clara counties.

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The chair of the investment committee of Calpers, the world's largest pension fund, was the luncheon speaker for Innovation&Equity16: 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016 in San Francisco at the African-American Art & Culture Complex. They will honor Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame member Roy L. Clay Sr., whose fault-tolerant computer innovation spawned the first big IPO, Tandem Computers, in the 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQrkgyArV5k&feature=youtu.be

Henry Jones retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1998 as chief financial officer overseeing the $7 billion annual budget. He also headed the Annuity Reserve Fund Board overseeing the pension fund for 7,000 schoolteachers and administrators. Mr. Jones serves as a personnel commissioner for the Los Angeles Community College District. He has also served as state finance chair for the Association of California Schools Administrators; treasurer for the National Council of Institutional Investors (CII); and chairman of the Schools Federal Credit Union. Mr. Jones is a member of the governing board of the Robert Toigo Foundation, a nonprofit organization that encourages minorities and women to pursue careers in finance. Mr. Jones is a member of the board of directors of Community Partners, a nonprofit organization that works with social entrepreneurs, grant makers and civic leaders to design solutions, foster, launch, and sustain powerful initiatives for change.

Mr. Jones serves on the board of the Pacific Pension Institute, an educational organization that assists pension funds, corporations, financial institutions, and endowments worldwide with carrying out their fiduciary responsibilities, especially with respect to Asia and the Pacific region. Mr. Jones served as a CalPERS representative of the Advisory Council of California All, a nonprofit organization focused on closing the achievement gap from preschool to professional careers in law, financial services, and technology. Mr. Jones served as a business development executive for IBM Business Consulting Services and principal consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Jones also served as an adjunct professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Mr. Jones has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance from California State University, Los Angeles.

Harriet Tubman would be in technology: Bradford describes 'exponential technology'

In a cover article, guest editor Nichol Bradford says African-Americans must strive for "exponential technology" which changes global paradigm, noting that Harriet Tubman would be such a technologist were she alive today. Maintaining the scientific record of African-American technological accomplishment has been hampered by discrimination in scholarly publishing. The new Journal of African-American Innovation provides a forum twice yearly for researchers from academia, the public sector and industry to describe their scientific work, specifically projects with promise for commercial or public utilization in the near term. Accepted for publication in the inaugural issue are Nichol Bradford, Arthur Bart- Williams, Charlene Childers-Coleman, Michael Coleman and Carl Childers; Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai and George McKinney. They will present during Innovation&Equity16 Jan. 15, 2016 in San Francisco.

The Roy Clay Sr. Technology Pinnacle Awards

A policeman told Roy Clay Sr. in 1947 to stay out of Ferguson and Silicon Valley is much richer for it. A McDonnell Aircraft recruiter told him there were "no jobs for professional Negroes in 1951." Five years later, he was programming the company's first computer. He managed Cobol and Fortran for Control Data in 1961 and was hired by David Packard as manager of computer research and development for Hewlett Packard in 1965. This history of innovation is honored by the 16th annual 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology, who have catapulted from the foundation laid by this Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame member. At the behest of Clay and the late Dr. Frank Greene, we have selected the 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology since 1998 to raise the profile of cutting-edge pioneers.

Eric Flowers, CEO of Ramsell Corp., which celebrated its 50th year in 2014 as an innovator in delivery of prescriptions to HIV patients, joins Nichol Bradford, CEO of Willow, and Dr. Trevor Castor, CEO of Aphios, who are among the 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology who announced new products during Innovation & Equity2015 on Jan. 15 in San Francisco. Flowers' father, Sylvester Flowers founded Ramsell as a single pharmacy in Oakland in 1964, developed prescription software in 1982 and created the Flowers Healthcare Initiative to provide culturally responsive care to vulnerable populations. The elder Flowers received the American Pharmacists Association Pinnacle Award in 2009. Bradford's transformational technology research is exploring the roots of happiness and Castor shared promising research for Aphios' HIV therapy. More innovation opportunities last April 20 during Black Innovation Month in Oakland with Kaiser Permanente CIO Richard P. Daniels.